Another nice hike in the SNP. Only saw one person along the hike outside of the AT - it was really quiet. The ascent is a workout, but not difficult. I enjoyed this short hike.

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Date of Hike: Monday, July 3, 2017

A really nice hike in some beautiful woods. Hiked as described. Lots of beautiful ferns as you hike down and nice groves of trees along the way. Trail was in great shape, though overgrown in a few places, and one of the few trails in this part of SNP that I would be OK bringing out of town guests who donít have hiking shoes. Uphill section is a good workout but not super steep and becomes easier once past the right hand switchback. Saw bear scat at several place along the hike and met a sow and her cub about half mile from Doyles parking lot. Cub scooted up a tree , momaís back hair went up, and I cautiously backed up about 50 yards, giving them some time to wander off. I see more bears between Dundo and Loft Mtn than Iíve seen everywhere else in the park, but try to closely follow SNP guidance and it has worked for me.

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JPOutdoors

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Date of Hike: Saturday, January 21, 2017

I would recommend doing this hike in the winter because you can see all of the mountains due to the lack of leaves. If you do it in the warmer months it will be like walking through a tunnel in the forest because the bush is very dense. Also, the trail can be very narrow at times requiring single file hiking if you are in a group. If you are looking for a quick, nice, get outdoors type of hike this is the one! If solitude is your thing then big run is right up your alley. We only saw on other group the entire loop.

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Ridgerunner

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Date of Hike: Saturday, February 7, 2015

I went the opposite direction on this, leaving the uphill for the end.
The write up really tells you all you need to know about this hike. It's a walk in the woods for the most part. I didn't run into a single person on the trail, which surprised me a little, which the weather being in the upper 40's in February.
All in all, i enjoyed it.

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Date of Hike: Saturday, July 19, 2014

Great Hike! Solitude is abundant. The downhill is great, real smooth and fairly gradual. The uphill is smooth as well, but still a workout. Trail was in great shape. The tree canopy was thick so we didn't see much of the sky, really gives you the feeling of being in the deep woods. We had one other hiker on our heels initially, but lost him after a bit. No other people for a few hours. A couple of cool stream crossings, enough to keep the dogs all watered up. Didn't see any bear, but heard something large crashing around in the woods just over a ridge out of eyesight. As soon as we finished this an hopped back on the AT to head back to Loft Mtn Campground, we saw over a dozen hikers.

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Date of Hike: Saturday, July 5, 2014

The description of this hike is quite accurate. The downhill isn't too hard, and the uphill is strenuous, but not insanely tough we did make fairly frequent short stops on the way up to let our heart rates settle down a bit, but these breaks were on the order of one minute or less. You actually cross the stream twice on this hike once at the top of the waterfall(this is one of the prettiest parts of the trail) and once at the bottom. Much of the hike has partially sunny spots, so sunscreen is a must. Overall, this hike isn't anything spectacular, but it's a good workout and was perfect for us after doing a harder hike the day before. It took us 3 hours to finish, with no long breaks, and we were going at a pretty good pace even on the uphill. I think a person would have to be going quite quickly to complete this in 2.5 hours.

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Michael M.

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Date of Hike: Saturday, April 13, 2013

Great hike for a novice (me). The second half is a fun challenge with a pretty quick climb. I enjoyed it.

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Date of Hike: Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Started at 12:00 Finished at 2:15 on a Wednesday the day before Thanksgiving. The Highlight was that we ran into no other hikers, in all truth we were just about the only people on skyline Drive. Very easy hike with no real views and the Big run Creek was more of a trickle. We did not see a bear nor a snake or anything living besides us. †

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Bettina

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Date of Hike: Thursday, August 4, 2011

We hiked this trail in August and though there were some pretty sections and the no other hikers, it was hot, buggy and the streams were dry. We also saw a bear at the intersection (about 2.5 miles) of the yellow, blue and fire road trails. It was a big, full grown bear about 40 or 50 feet from the intersection very close to the trail. We backed away making lots of noise. It looked at us a went along on its way. After some deep breathing and several minutes of contemplation, we headed down the blue trail to complete the loop. We saw the bear again right off the trail. This time, we headed back to the intersection and detoured down the fire road, walked down Skyline Drive and saw another much smaller bear cross the road. We were glad we did not go down the blue trail. Instead we got back on the AT which completed the loop. I was wearing a bell. My husband thought I was overly cautious but changed his tune after the bear encounter.

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Date of Hike: Monday, July 5, 2010

My wife and I did this as a day hike on Monday July 5, 2010.† The hike was great.††It was a very hot day but the tree cover helped to keep us cool.†††The elavataion gain coming out was a little tough.† I am glad we chose not to bring†our son.† It is a D level†3.† The†trails are well marked and maintained.††It was a nice outing, and a great way to end the holiday weekend.